What Is Alibaba?

It is a marketplace, a search engine and a bank, all in one.

Defining Alibaba

Alibaba is China’s — and by some measures, the world’s — biggest online commerce company. Its three main sites — Taobao, Tmall and Alibaba.com — have hundreds of millions of users, and host millions of merchants and businesses. Alibaba handles more business than any other e-commerce company.

E-COMMERCE

Alibaba is the most popular destination for online shopping, in the world's fastest growing e-commerce market. Transactions on its online sites totaled $248 billion last year, more than those of eBay and Amazon.com combined.

80%

of China's online shopping market is dominated by Alibaba.

Source: CLSA

MARKET CAPITALIZATION

Alibaba became one of the most valuable tech companies in the world after raising $25 billion from its U.S. IPO. It is also one of the most valuable Chinese public companies, ranking among some of the country’s state-owned enterprises.

FINANCIALS

Alibaba's financials paint a more complicated picture. Click the arrows to explore:

Inside Taobao

Taobao is Alibaba's biggest shopping site. It's home to seven million merchants selling everything from tiger-striped leather jackets to origami decorations. It’s free for users, but sellers can pay for ads to stand out from the crowd.

The Man Behind Alibaba

Alibaba founder Jack Ma is the company’s spiritual leader. When Alibaba needs a new innovation, it goes back to his old apartment for inspiration. Mr. Ma stepped down as CEO, but Alibaba’s current corporate structure will let Mr. Ma and other top brass nominate more than half of Alibaba's board members. Alibaba chose to list in the U.S. because the Hong Kong exchange refused to accept the structure.

Jack Ma was an English teacher in 1995. Porter Erisman

Mr. Ma’s apartment in Hangzhou in the early days. Alibaba

Most companies, when they're doing good, they enjoy today's wonderful life. They don't worry about five years later—but I worry about five years later.

Jack Ma

PHILOSOPHY

What's Jack Ma's philosophy? Investors can get a taste from a letter Mr. Ma sent to employees, on the day Alibaba filed its IPO prospectus. In it, Mr. Ma warned about the ruthlessness of the capital markets and pledged the company would stay true to Alibaba's principles, which put customers before shareholders.

CONTROL

Alibaba’s current corporate structure will let Mr. Ma and other top brass nominate more than half of Alibaba's board members. Alibaba chose to list in the U.S. because the Hong Kong exchange refused to accept the structure.

Who Owns Alibaba Now?

Note: Numbers do not add up to 100% due to rounding.

Sources: the companies (SoftBank and Yahoo); staff reports (Ma)

WEALTH

After the IPO, Mr. Ma became China’s richest man with a net worth of $25 billion, according to the Hurun Rich List. Mr. Ma owns a 7.8% stake in Alibaba and a 46% stake in the Alipay electronic payment affiliate.

The Challenges

The world is going mobile, and Alibaba is competing for China's smartphone users with new rivals. In its search for growth, Alibaba is forging into new businesses — and bumping into powerful players like Chinese banks and regulators. And will U.S. investors buy the IPO of a company that is still largely unknown to them?

SELLING THE ALIBABA STORY

Alibaba's IPO is the largest in the world. China's e-commerce market is still going strong and expectations for Alibaba are high. Still, Alibaba is facing a slew of new business challenges.

THE RACE TO GO MOBILE

China's 600 million-plus Internet users are migrating to smartphones, setting off a scramble among the country's Internet giants. Alibaba's toughest rival is Tencent, which runs the WeChat mobile messaging application, with 355 million users. The companies are spending billions of dollars to invest in businesses that can help them compete.

The Tangled Web of the Chinese Internet

NEW FRONTIERS

The newest frontier for Alibaba is financial services. You can use Alibaba's Alipay payments app to buy theater tickets and pay for taxis. You can also use it to invest in a money-market fund. That fund, called Yu'e Bao, has already collected $87 billion in assets. China's banks and regulators are starting to get alarmed.

FAKES

Many brands say Alibaba's sites — particularly Taobao — are rife with counterfeits. That could be awkward for the company, as it readies its global IPO. Alibaba says it spends millions of dollars a year battling fakes, and some merchants say Taobao has gotten faster at taking down suspect listings.

A fake Dahon bike and fake SylvanSport campers were listed on Taobao.com. The companies